Balamb Garden's New Recruits
by Kitkat Anikha
Summary: It's been two years since the second sorceress war was ended by Squall and his crew. Two years ago was also the year Samuel Kain failed to join Balamb Garden. And now, he finally has another chance. Samuel Kain and his best friend Charlotte Waltz enlist to study at Balamb Garden, hoping to become powerful warriors and perhaps make a name for themselves.
1. Chapter 1: First Day in Balamb Garden

**Chapter 1: First day in Balamb Garden.**

Knock knock. The worst noise in the morning. Knock knock. There it is again. Knock knock. When will it stop?  
"Charlotte? Come on and get up already!" A familiar voice came from the other side of the door. Charlotte, head under pillow, raises her head slightly.  
"In a minute!" She says, dropping her head back onto her bed.  
"You said that half an hour ago, our first ever lesson is going to start soon and you'd have missed out on breakfast!" Charlotte throws herself out of bed and lands face first onto the floor. She gets out of her sleepwear and dons her standard Balamb student uniform, she adjusts the tie quickly then opens the door, where Sam waits outside.  
"I'm here!" She says, standing upright. Sam looks at her for a few seconds, before he starts to laugh. "Why are you laughing!?" She says, placing her hands on her hips.  
"You can't be serious? You're going to go to class with your hair like that?" Charlotte drops her arms and flings them onto her face, she quickly dashes back into her room and grabs a hairbrush before coming back outside.  
"Now I'm ready!" She starts brushing her hair, Sam sighs and follows her down the hall. "What lessons do we have today?" She says, tugging at her hair with every pull of her brush.  
"We start off with basic weapon training, before we move onto the study of drawing. We then have 2 hours lunch before we do our lesson on GF's. After that we have to come back here and meet our tutor for the year!" He says, proud of being able to remember the sequence.  
"Ugh, basic weapon training? We are more than capable of using weapons, especially our personal ones!" She glances at her hairbrush, holding it as if it was a dagger.  
"Sometimes we'll be unable to use our personal weapons, so it's best that we know how to use basic ones, like swords!"  
"Whatever!" Charlotte says, throwing her hands up in the air before holding them together behind her back. "So… Did you sleep okay?" She looks at Sam, who keeps his eyes ahead of them.  
"Aside from spending my morning trying to wake you up, I guess I did." He says, Charlotte blushes in embarrassment and turns away from him. "We're here."  
"But what about breakfast!?" She says, placing her hands on her hips again and looking at Sam sternly.  
"Because of your desire to sleep, we've missed our chance." Charlotte looks down, feeling as if she is going to die if she doesn't eat something. Sam opens his bag and brings out a sandwich, giving it to Charlotte. Stars form in her eyes as she grabs hold of the sandwich Sam had made her. His food expertise was a good enough reason to live. She devours the sandwich quickly, not caring for the stares she was getting. Sam smiles and leans against the wall, waiting for Charlotte to finish. The door opens and students start walking into the classroom. Charlotte finishes her sandwich and makes her way inside, Sam following closely behind. They sit on a big bench next to each other, waiting for their instructor to stand up. Three minutes pass and their instructor was still sitting at his desk, some of the other students start whispering to each other. Charlotte tilts her head while Sam lays back, one of the students stand up.  
"Uh, sir?" The instructor jumps, falling off his chair onto the floor. Some students start laughing, while the rest struggle to keep a straight face.  
"Hey hey HEY!" The instructor says, trying to get onto his feet. He stands up and points at the student who spoke to him "How dare you disturb me from my slumber!"  
"Sir, the lesson started a few minutes ago…"  
"Oh… so it did!" The instructor moves to the middle of the classroom and stands upright. "Welcome to basic weapons training!" He raises his left hand and gives everyone a thumb up. "I'm Zell Dincht! And I'm your weapons teacher!"

"I get it! You all have your 'personal weapons!'" Zell holds a basic sword in his right hand, while he uses his left hand to make gestures towards his students. "But sometimes you will be unable to use them! So, you need to know how to use other weapons! Personally, I'd use my fists, but you aren't all like that!" Charlotte starts to doze, slowly leaning her head onto Sam's. Upon impact, Sam shook slightly, he looks to his right to see a sleeping Charlotte on his shoulder. "Now what do we have here?" Zell calls out, pointing towards the two, Charlotte opens her eyes.  
"Huh…" She murmurs, she looks left to see Sam's face up close. She quickly throws her head away. "Oh my god I'm so sorry!"  
"It's fine." Sam says, he looks towards Zell, who is watching the two. "She struggles to sleep sometimes, she's probably still tired." Zell brings his hand to his chin, then clicks his fingers together.  
"Samuel Kain, right? Come up here, and show me your personal weapon!" Sam stood up and faced Zell, a flash of light appeared in his right hand and a navy-blue lance appeared. Sam holds it upward, allowing Zell to observe it. "Good good, now show me that you can use it. Attack me with your weapon!" He leans closer to Sam. "Gotta show off to your girl, right?"  
"Excuse me?" Sam says, questioning his teacher. Zell places the sword down and kicks it across the room, raising his fists. He swings at Sam, who bounces backwards to avoid the hit.  
"Nice dodge, now do it again!" He swings again, Sam jumps back again. Zell repeatedly swings his fists, only for Sam to dodge them repeatedly. Zell lowers his fists. "Well done!" He quickly performs an uppercut, landing a hit on Sam and throwing him onto the floor. Some students start laughing at Sam. The laughter poured into Sam's head, and his vision fades to black. An ominous, black, shadowy figure begins to form before him.  
"You are a fool, Samuel." The shadow unsheathes a sword and points it at Sam. "You think you can protect people, but all you do is hurt them…"  
"No… Shut up!" Sam gets up and readies his lance.  
"Yes, that's right! Show me your anger!" Sam swings his lance, but the shadow jumps back, he swings again and misses. The shadow starts to wave its sword at Sam, who avoids all three strikes. "Show me your true strength!" Sam crouches down, feeling the air around him grow lighter. He extends his legs, flinging himself upwards, before crashing downwards, pinning the shadow to the ground. Sam aims his lance at the shadow's neck. "Good, good! Finish me!" Sam readies his lance, preparing for the finishing blow.  
"Sam, stop!" He hears Charlotte's voice faintly, he starts trembling.  
"What are you doing? Finish me!"  
"Sam, this isn't you! Stop it!" Sam closes his eyes, he breathes in and tries to calm his mind. He opens them to see his lance aimed at an unconscious Zell. He raises his head and looks towards the other students, who are watching him in horror. Charlotte stands near him. "Are you okay Sam?"  
"I… I'm fine…" Sam says, lowering his lance. He throws it aside, and it disappears in a flash of light. The door to the classroom opens. Both Sam and Charlotte look towards it to see a casually dressed man leaning in the doorway.  
"You, the one who had the lance. Come to my office!"

"You know what you did, correct?" The headmaster stands behind his desk, staring out of the window, Sam sat on a chair opposite, looking down towards his hands.  
"Attacked the teacher." Sam muttered. "It wasn't me though!" He raises his head towards the headmaster of Balamb Garden, he had heard rumours about him from people, saying that the headmaster looked very intimidating. But this wasn't what Sam expected at all; he just had a leather jacket with white trim, how could he be intimidating?  
"Is that so?" The headmaster turns around to face Sam, his hair moving to show both of his wide hazel green eyes, which were looking directly at him, and Sam realised why he was so intimidating. "Then who did I see pointing a lance at Zell?" Sam tries to respond, but is unable to. He didn't want his secret to be discovered by anyone, the only person who knows about it is Charlotte, who he trusts with his life. "What I thought. Your first day and you attempt to kill one of my instructors. I can already tell you're going to be a handful." A series of playful knocks echo from the door, the headmaster raises his head in response and presses a red button on his desk. "Who is it?"  
"Oh Squally-poo!" A playful, feminine voice is heard from a speaker on the desk. Squall sighs and places his free hand on his head.  
"I'm busy right now Rinoa, can you come back later?"  
"But it's urgent!" Squall sighs again, he looked briefly towards Sam and rolls his eyes, before pressing another button to unlock the door. The doors swing open to reveal Rinoa. Sam sits in the chair, refusing to turn around. She walks up to the side of Squall's desk and leans over it, gazing lovingly into his eyes.  
"You forgot this folder!" She drops the black folder directly onto the desk. It appears as if she doesn't even realise Sam is there. "Honestly, where would you be without me!"  
"Somewhere peaceful." Squall looks at Sam again.  
Sam could tell that Squall was embarrassed, even if he was trying to keep up his intimidating act.  
"That's no way to speak to your gir…" Rinoa looks to her left, seeing the student sitting on the chair. "Aren't you that kid who gave Zell a run for his money?" Sam nods, which leads to Rinoa grasping her hands together in excitement. "I spoke to Zell before coming here, he was ecstatic! Says he's glad that he gets to teach someone who isn't a pushover or a show off!" She turns to Squall again. "Why is he in here? Shouldn't he be with his girlfriend?" Sam starts to blush, he now understands how Squall is feeling.  
"Whether Zell enjoyed his beating or not, I can't let it slide." Squall lifts his head and looks at Rinoa, who drops her hands and holds them behind her back. "Now can you please leave, I need to continue working." Rinoa nods and walks towards the door, she performs a playful bow before leaving. Both Sam and Squall remain silent for a solid minute, not moving from their positions.  
"Uhm…" Sam murmurs, trying to break the silence in the room. Squall glares at him, before lowering his head and taking a seat, trying to regain his composure.  
"Go to your girlfriend, we're done here." Sam stands up and makes his way to the door. "Samuel?" He says, gaining Sam's attention. "Tell anybody what happened here and you'll be taking Zell's place in the next demonstration." Sam nods and leaves the office.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to the Class

**Chapter 2: Welcome to the class!**

Sam and Charlotte lean over the banister, gazing at the water surrounding the centre of Balamb Garden's hall. Charlotte is mesmerised by it, while Sam just stands there, letting Charlotte have her moment.  
"It's so beautiful!" She says, she turns her head towards Sam. "Don't you think so?"  
"Sure, it's beautiful." He responds, speaking at a faster pace than usual.  
"Is something wrong?" She asks, leaning upwards and turning slightly towards Sam. She waited a few seconds, before realising she wasn't going to get a reply. "It can't have been that bad! Headmaster didn't look that intimidating when I saw him!"  
"Day one and I've already been to the headmaster's office." Sam murmurs to himself, he hopes that he won't find himself in front of Squall again in the coming weeks.  
Wouldn't have happened if you could control yourself!" Charlotte said casually, looking down at the water once more. She stared at Sam's reflection, who looked hurt by her comment. "Sorry, I forgot for a moment there."  
"It's alright." He says, turning away from her. "I know you didn't mean it." He turns back. "How about we head to our next class."  
"What class is it again?" She replies, standing upright and looking around.  
"Guardian Forces." Sam started his small journey to the next classroom, aware that Charlotte would be following him closely behind. He knew very well that if he wasn't leading her, she'd be unable to find her way. They took various turns around the garden, including an elevator ride, before reaching their destination. The classroom was quiet, with only a few students seated. Sam could count twelve students, including him and Charlotte; they took their seats next to each other by the corner, keeping to themselves. One of the students was looking directly at Charlotte with an expression of envy, which was strange given that they didn't know each other. It wasn't long before their teacher burst into the classroom, almost falling onto the floor. Upon springing back onto her feet, she stepped onto the podium at the front of the classroom.  
"Hey there! Welcome to your study of GUARDIAN FORCES!" She clicked on a remote before throwing her hands into the air. A picture of a Guardian Force appeared on the projector above her and on the screens in front of the students, the GF had bull-like features and a mane of fire. "This here is one of many! His name is Ifrit!" She lowers her arms and places her hands on the pedestal. "Well look at me! Introducing you to a GF before me! Selphie's the name!" She extends her hand, as if the entire class was going to shake it. "Let's get started, shall we?"

The bell rang; the lesson was over. Charlotte already liked her teacher, while Sam started to worry about her being overwhelming. The students started to get off their seats.  
"Hold it right there!" Selphie called out, grabbing the attention of her students. "Here's the best part! You don't have to move anywhere, because I am your tutor for the year!" Most of the class sat back down with excitement, whereas a few of them sat down with exhaustion, Sam included. "Let's take it slow! Come up here and introduce yourself to everyone! Starting with… you!" She points towards Sam, who looks as if he was failing to hear every word Selphie says. He quickly stands up and makes his way to the stand.  
"Um… Hi? He looks at his classmates, feeling pressured by their gaze. "I'm Sam, from Balamb Town…" He looks to Charlotte, who is probably laughing internally at him, he couldn't wait for it to be her turn.  
"Not much of a talker aren't you?" Selphie calls out. "Go sit back down then, let's try someone more… talkative!" Sam went back to his seat, he could tell that Charlotte found the whole ordeal funny. Selphie points towards the female student in the corner, the one who looked at Charlotte. She goes to the stand and looks at her peers.  
"Greetings, I am Lady Lamia Maldine, daughter to Lord Markil, a Lord of Esthar!"  
"Esthar?" Selphie says, grabbing the classes attention. "I wonder how it's doing, especially with Sir Laguna holding the reigns."  
"It is doing fine, but it could do with some improvements, that's for sure." She bows slightly, her eyes trained on Charlotte, before returning to her seat. Selphie calls up a few more students, before calling Charlotte to the stand.  
"Hello! I'm Charlotte Waltz, from Balamb Town! I'm sorry about Sam, he gets awkward quickly." She looks over at him, who returns the gaze, as if he was saying 'I'm going to kill you.' "We enlisted together and are best friends!"  
"Best friends huh?" Selphie says with an idea in her head. "You sure it's nothing more than that?"  
"Oh no, there's nothing more than that, if anything we're more like siblings!"  
"If you say so!" Selphie stands before the class, letting Charlotte return to her seat. She gazes towards Sam, there's no doubt about it; he wants to kill her now. "Now, feel free to talk amongst each other for the rest of this session! Get to know each other!" She sits at her desk and starts to read through comments on her blog. Charlotte goes to her monitor and explores the Balamb system, while Sam hasn't stopped looking at her. She slightly looks to him, noticing his gaze.  
"What did I do now?" She asks playfully.  
"You know very well what you did." He drops his gaze and smiles at her. "Where would I be without you huh?"  
"I dunno, probably still at home, wishing you were brave enough to enlist to this garden!" They both laughed, their first day went well, and hopefully, the rest of the year should too.  
"Hello, you two!" A snobbish voice came from behind them, they turned around to see Lamia leaning over their seats. "I have not had an opportunity to say this, but Sam." She looks at him. "I saw what you did to our teacher during weapons practice, you must either be brave or foolish to do what you did."  
"I'd rather we not talk about that." He turns back and brings out a notebook, he opens it up and starts to write in it.  
"It's a sensitive subject for him." Charlotte says, explaining his behaviour to her.  
"Why would that be? Is attacking authority a hobby of his?"  
"You wouldn't understand if I told you, I struggled with it at first."  
"Are you sure you struggled because it's big news, or because you aren't smart enough to comprehend it?" Before Charlotte could snap back a counter-insult, Sam nudges her leg with his.  
"Could you leave us be?" He says, she sighs and nods, leaving the two to themselves. "Don't let yourself get worked up, right?"  
"Hey! That's what I said to you!" Charlotte quietly giggled for a second. "Glad you remembered!"

The sound of the ocean has always been calming, the way the waves crash against the sand, or maybe the sound of the coast. She wasn't sure why, but it always calmed Charlotte. She stared towards the ocean while Sam was searching through their bag. He brings out a box with two sandwiches in it, before sitting down next to Charlotte and handing her one. They both sit in silence with their food, watching the sun descend over the horizon.  
"It's beautiful." Charlotte says, breaking the silence.  
"You say that every time." Sam lays on his back, staring at the sky. "We've been doing this every Monday since we were five."  
"Sneaking out of Balamb Town and camping by the coast." She looks towards Balamb Town, thinking about her family. "I kind of miss my family already, it's only been a day but… It's been quite a long one."  
"You can go see them, I'm sure they want to hear all about your first day!"  
"I guess they would, yours too!" Sam continues to look up at the sky, he didn't want to talk about his family, but he felt like he should tell Charlotte, it was only right for him to.  
"Not really." He says, he looks over to her. "They never approved of Balamb Garden, if they learnt that I ran off to join it, then they'd be so mad." Charlotte looked at him in silence, unsure of what to say. "I wonder what it's like, to have parents that approve of your dreams." He looks back up at the sky, letting Charlotte think about what he said. She looked at the sunset, it wasn't long before she heard a faint noise.  
"Can you hear that?" She says, trying to pinpoint the location of the noise. Sam sits up and tries to listen.  
"Yeah, I can… It's coming from behind that rock." Charlotte stands up and peeks over the rock, a small, blue creature is lying there. She gently picks it up and brings it to Sam, laying it on the sand. "That creature… it looks familiar…" Charlotte leans over to its face, spotting the red gem in its head.  
"It's a Carbuncle!" She says, looking at Sam. "Miss Selphie told us about it, a GF!"  
"It looks wounded?" He gently presses his hand on its chest, feeling a faint heartbeat. "No normal potion would heal it, look for a GF Potion in our bag!" Charlotte goes to the bag and brings it over, bringing out various supplies before finding the GF Potion, she pours it on the Carbuncle. It wasn't long before the Carbuncle opened its eyes. It looked around the beach, before seeing Charlotte's leg. It stares at her leg, unsure of what to do.  
"It's okay lil fella! We're not gonna hurt you." The ground shook, the Carbuncle looks behind the two and backs slowly away. The duo look behind them, seeing a large beast standing before them. They both jump up in unison, summoning their weapons. "What is that thing!?"  
"Probably the beast that hurt the Carbuncle!"  
"Then let's kill it! Maybe that'll help it trust us!" They both nodded and readied their weapons. The beast roars loudly, pushing the duo back slightly.

Sam jumps into the sky while Charlotte readies her dagger. The beast charges at Charlotte, who swiftly sidesteps out of the way, slicing her dagger into the beast while it charges. Sam crashes down, landing next to the beast, missing his target. The impact of his landing throws the beast aside, knocking it onto its back.  
"Maybe missing was a good thing! Attack it while it's upside down!" the duo repeatedly slice their weapons across the beast, which shrieks every time it's struck. It wasn't long before it rolls onto its front, the beast roars and starts to run around rampaging, Sam stands before Charlotte, taking any hits for her. The beast rears onto its hind legs, then stamps on the ground.  
"Quake!" The duo is thrown to the ground, the quake nearly knocking them both out. The beast stares at them, preparing to charge. Before it could charge, fire appeared in front of it, throwing it back. The Carbuncle jumps over the duo, it's gem shining bright. The duo could feel their strength returning, they stand on their feet and prepare to continue the fight. "Did that Carbuncle just heal us?"  
"It's thankful for our help, now it's returning the favour!" Sam prepares to jump again. "Let's take advantage of its hospitality!" He leaps into the air again. A black aura appears around Charlotte, as she starts to perform a quick dance. The Carbuncle throws another fire spell at the beast, staggering it slightly. Charlotte performs her dance of darkness, inflicting darkness on the beast. Sam comes crashing down, throwing the beast to the ground once more. The party throw their attacks at the beast. It finally let out a roar of defeat, before crumbling into dust. Charlotte falls onto the ground, exhausted from the fight, while Sam stands upright. His lance vanishes from his hand as he kneels beside her, the Carbuncle jumps onto her lap and looks up at her.  
"Thank you for the help!"  
"Huh!?" Charlotte stares at the Carbuncle. "Did you just… say something?"  
"Yes, I said thank you for the help!"  
"There's no doubting it." Sam says, looking towards the GF. "It spoke to us."  
"Excuse me? 'it' is standing right here! And 'it' has a name!" The Carbuncle threw its tail at Sam's face, the soft fur brushing against it.  
"If that's supposed to be a slap then you have lots to learn." Charlotte laughs for a few seconds, the Carbuncle looks back at her.  
"Hey! Pretty lady! Slap him for me!" The Carbuncle stares down Sam, waiting for the slap.  
"This 'pretty lady' has a name too!" They both start laughing, while the Carbuncle stood there confused.  
"Alright then." Sam says, he looks towards the Carbuncle. "I'm Sam, and that's Charlotte."  
"Okay! Thanks Charlotte!" Carbuncle says, jumping off her lap and onto the sand. "What are you two lovebirds doing out here?" Charlotte blushes while Sam sighs.  
"We're not together." Sam says sternly towards Carbuncle. "We're more like siblings."  
"Oh… So, you're related?" Charlotte starts laughing again, Sam tries to hold back, but is unable to stop smiling because of her.  
"Not exactly. We aren't related, but we act like siblings to each other."  
"Sounds like a weird relationship; I knew you two weren't together! She's far too pretty for you!" Charlotte is now laughing uncontrollably, loving the conversation between the two.  
"Sorry to butt in." Charlotte says after controlling her laughter. "But we better head back to Garden before it gets dark." Sam nods and picks up their bag, Carbuncle proceeds to jump onto Charlotte's shoulder as she stands up. "You're coming with us?"  
"I gotta thank you for killing that thing, so coming with you will give me a chance to!"  
"You can't come like that though." Sam says. "People would try and take you away."  
"It's alright, keep this with you!" The Carbuncle leaps into the sky, morphing into a ruby that lands in Charlotte's hand. She puts it in her pocket, then looks at Sam. They nod at each other and start to walk back to Balamb Garden.


End file.
